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Jordan McNair’s father on D.J. Durkin: He shouldn’t be able to work with anybody else’s kid

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

The parents of Jordan McNair, the Maryland football player who died from heat stroke after a summer workout, believe that head coach D.J. Durkin should resign from his position.

Thursday morning, McNair’s parents sat down for an interview with Good Morning America to talk about the death of their son, as well as the culture that Durkin and his coaching staff created at the university.

Good Morning America host Michael Strahan asked the family about the toxic culture of the program and whether they believe it played a role in McNair’s death?

“If it’s true, yes,” McNair’s mother said. “Jordan was the type of person who would give his all, do his best because some asked him to do something. He wouldn’t have stopped. Because if that’s the culture, he wouldn’t want to be called names.”

Later, Strahan asked if Durkin should resign as the head coach from Maryland. McNair’s father gave an emphatic response.

“Yes, absolutely,” his father said. “He shouldn’t be able to work with anyone else’s kid.”

Durkin and other members of the coaching staff are still on administrative leave while an independent group investigates the culture at Maryland.

Below is the full Good Morning America interview with McNair’s parents.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB